Character History

"Future Hiro" travels back in time to visit Peter Petrelli while on a subway train with Mohinder. Right before he arrives, time stops for everyone on the train except for Peter. Speaking fluent English, "Future Hiro" says he must hurry as he risks creating a rift. He tells Peter (who, according to Hiro, looks different without the scar), that he has an important message: Peter must save the girl in order to prevent "it all" from happening. As he leaves, he reiterates, "Save the cheerleader, save the world". He also tells Peter that when the present-day Hiro calls, he must tell Hiro where they meet.

In 2011, America is a police state where evolved humans are persecuted. Hiro saves Sparrow Redhouse from the police, then goes to Isaac's old apartment, where he has set up a web of strings that represent many different lives integral to the explosion. For years, Hiro has been working on the strings, hoping to find a way to change the past and prevent the explosion. Hiro thinks about what had originally occurred in the past, where he stabbed Sylar before he exploded, but Sylar lived because he had stolen Claire's power to regenerate. He goes back in time again to get Peter to save Claire, hoping that will change history, but nothing seems different when he returns. Seeing a light in the apartment, he goes there to find his past self and Ando inside.

Hiro Nakamura of the future is America's most wanted terrorist, whose purported crimes include prison breaks and the destruction of a science facility in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is also a master of the sword-based martial art Battojutsu. After explaining the nature of the timeline to his past counterpart and Ando, past Hiro is captured by Matt Parkman and the Haitian and Homeland Security. Hiro and Ando teleport to Las Vegas in order to seek out Peter Petrelli, who is the only man powerful enough to penetrate the Department of Homeland Security's defenses and rescue Hiro.

In Las Vegas, Hiro and Ando visit Peter's girlfriend, Niki Sanders, who works at a strip club. Niki is not pleased with their arrival, reminding Hiro that the battle for evolved humans had been lost. She does not reveal Peter's location, claiming that he would not be interested, but she does direct them to Mr. Bennet, who Hiro knows can also provide assistance.

Hiro goes to Mr. Bennet at the old Primatech building in Odessa, TX, requesting several evolved humans to aid Hiro in infiltrating Homeland Security. Bennet refuses at first, seeing that helping them would betray those he vowed to protect. But he seems to comply when the two reveal their knowledge of Claire's survival.

As Hiro and Ando wait for Bennet, Ando wonders about where he is in the future. Hiro refuses to answer, and even makes a joke (to Ando's pleasure) to avoid the question. But after some thought, Hiro decides to tell Ando something, but they are ambushed by Homeland Security, with Matt tasering Hiro and knocking him unconscious. They manage to escape however thanks to Peter's timely arrival.

Back at the strip club, Hiro awakes to see Ando examining his sword, and realizes that Ando is now aware of the fact that he is dead in the future. Ando is despondent, but also sees that Hiro behaves the way he does and works hard to change history all because of his own death. The two briefly bond, and then they head off with Peter to Homeland Security's facility to rescue the other Hiro.

Hiro, Peter, and Ando nonchalantly enter the building, dispatching all the guards with relative ease. But they cannot do the same for the upper floors, as the Haitian would negate their powers. Still, they manage to avoid Matt and his men with a diversion, giving Hiro the opportunity to find his past self. When he finds the other Hiro, he almost kills Mohinder Suresh before seeing that he is an ally, having killed the Haitian and released past Hiro. Peter and Ando also arrive, and Hiro tries to take the two time travelers back to their own time as Present Hiro can't control his powers yet, but is shot down by Matt Parkman. As Peter holds off Homeland Security, Future Hiro gives Ando a part of the comic book he kept to himself, and dies in his arms. After his death, Present Hiro manages to teleport himself and Ando back to their own time without any help with Future Mohinder giving Present Hiro Future Hiro's sword.

Roughly one year after the explosion, Hiro recruits Peter Petrelli's aid in freeing the near 200 prisoners of Moab Federal Penitentiary, many of whom -- if not all -- are evolved humans. Using their shared ability to stop time, they get past the guards and open the cells. However, before they evacuate all the prisoners, they are confronted by three agents.

Hiro breaks free from the prison ambush agent's grasp, and tells Peter that his power is being blocked. He is then attacked by the agent again, although he dodges the punch (which breaks the wall). Niki defeats the agents, and the prisoners are released. Hiro leads them to an escape route, using the origami he placed, which will lead them to a special facility in Odessa, Texas.

Like the present-day Hiro, Future Hiro can manipulate space and time in a number of ways. At the time of his encounter with Present Hiro and Ando he could control his powers much better than Present Hiro, among which being able to separate his teleportation aspect from his time travel aspect and is also able to take other people with him better than Present Hiro was able to. He can apparently take at least two people with him through time as he said he would take Present Hiro and Ando back to their own time himself as Present Hiro couldn't control his powers, but was killed before he could forcing Present Hiro to send them back himself.

Notes

Future Hiro's appearance is markedly different than present-day Hiro. He is wearing a black coat instead of a business suit, no longer wears glasses, and has a sword strapped to his back. His attitude is much more self-confident than his present counterpart and his English is fluent and without accent. Future Hiro also sports a ponytail and a small, "soul patch"-type beard.

Future Hiro's appearance resembles Takezo Kensei's -- both have a "soul patch" and a ponytail.

Future Hiro mentioned studying battōjutsu rather than kendo (Five Years Gone). nBattōjutsu is the art of drawing and cutting with the samurai sword whereas kendo is the modern sport version without drawing and only using bamboo swords. Future Hiro says he studied in the Tōhoku (northeastern) region of Japan, where legendary swordsman Hayashizaki Jinsuke Minamoto no Shigenobu is enshrined. This would imply that Future Hiro studied either Musō Jikiden Eishin-ryū or Musō Shinden ryū, both tracing their lineage back to this same swordsman.

Future Hiro bears a resemblance to the character Future Trunks from the anime Dragonball Z. Both use a sword obtained from a legendary hero, and both travel back in time to prevent a dark future from happening.

When preparing to stop the H.E.L.E., the current Hiro's step-son Tommy Clark paraphrased this Hiro, telling Noah Bennet "save you, save the world" after discovering Noah was the key to stopping the H.E.L.E.